Side Events

Networking in rural areas is widely recognized and adopted as a key tool for supporting and promoting sustainable rural development. Τhe main added value of networking is to provide solutions to the problems faced by rural areas through sharing knowledge and information and encouraging the dialogue between the stakeholders.

Within the framework of the European Rural Development Policy, National Rural Networks have been established in all Member States, in order to:

• Improve the quality of Rural Development Programs
• Increase the involvement of stakeholders in the implementation of rural development
• Inform the broader public and potential beneficiaries on rural development policy benefits and funding opportunities
• Foster innovation in agriculture, food production, forestry and rural areas which is analyzed in:
  • Facilitate the exchange of knowledge and good practices on innovation issues
  • Establish dialogue between farmers and researchers and facilitate the inclusion of all stakeholders in the knowledge exchange process.

One of the actions of the National Rural Network is the support of Measure 16 “Cooperation” of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 through the networking of the members of the Operational Groups of the European Innovation Partnership for Agriculture as well as the dissemination of the results of their work. The task of the Operational Groups is to co-operate in order to connect research with production through pilot innovative projects. These projects should aim to the agricultural sustainability and productivity or to protection of the environment and adaptation to the climate change, which are priorities of the European Commission for the present and the next Programming Period.

For the next Programming Period, the role of the National Rural Network, which has been proposed to be called CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) Network, will be key in fostering and supporting the next CAP cross-cutting objective of agriculture and rural areas modernization through Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems for Farmers (AKIS).

Agribusiness forum is an opportunity for the National Rural Network members to empower networking, knowledge exchange and foster innovation in the agri-food sector.

The meeting is organized by the Cluster’s Coordinator (American Farm School of Thessaloniki) in order to inform its members about the progress of implementation of Phase A of the project and the best preparation for the start of the implementation of Phase II expected to commence in the coming days.

The emphasis will be given on the first conclusions resulting from the Coordinator’s contact with the members of the Cluster in regard to the digital maturity of the member companies.

The digital transformation of the agri-food sector is progressing rapidly and the bet that Greek companies in the industry are called to win is to achieve high levels of integration of digital technologies in their daily practice and the automation of processes. The aim is to achieve faster speeds of responding to the demands of partners, customers and consumers while increasing reliability and reducing operating costs, especially labor costs.

All members of InoFa who are expected to attend the workshop have valuable know-how that can act as a catalyst for accelerating the desired digital transformation in the agri-food supply chain of our country by enhancing the skills of workers in the industry and increasing the chances of success in various activities such as food exports.

The meeting takes place in the framework of the project “Integration of cutting-edge technology to strengthen the value chain of Greek quality products. Internet of Things in Agri-Food Alliances – InoFA”, ΓΓ1CL-0056368 which is part of the action CLUSTERS.